Album sheet

ABSTRACT

An album page having at least one pair of parallel strips ( 5 ), which are joined to a substrate ( 1 ) in the longitudinal direction of the strips ( 5 ) and, at their mutually facing edges, have an unjoined region. The distance between the longitudinal joins is slightly greater than the extent in one direction of an object ( 6 ) to be held. In one embodiment the strips ( 5 ) are of the same length as the longitudinal edges of the substrate ( 1 ). In this way the album pages can be produced in a continuous process. The album page is preferably produced from the same materials (e.g., cardboard).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an album page for holding at least one planarobject at least on one side, comprising a rectangular substrate, onelongitudinal edge of which is designed as a binding edge, and at leastone pair of parallel strips, which are joined to the substrate parallelto the longitudinal edges thereof and, at their mutually facing edges,have an unjoined region, the distance between the mutually facing edgesof the strips being shorter than the dimension in one direction of theobject to be held and the distance between the longitudinal joins whichconnect a pair of strips to the substrate being slightly greater than inone direction the dimension of the object to be held.

2. Description of the Related Art

Album pages of this kind are known from DE-U 1 962 521 and DE-D 1 043280.

Album pages of this kind are bound into albums and are used to holdphotographs, visiting cards, cheque cards and telephone cards, coins orother planar objects of identical formats.

In the case of the solutions mentioned, the album pages comprise asubstrate, preferably a transparent film, which, to form the pockets, isprovided with plastic strips which are welded, or adhesively bonded on.The photographs are simply clamped beneath the edges of the strips attwo opposite edges. The holding of the objects is thus extremely simple,but a plastic substrate is very flexible and hence is suitable forholding photographs only to a limited extent, and is not suited at allto holding more solid objects. Moreover, it is not very attractive, sothat purchasers prefer albums with cardboard pages as the substrate.

A principle reason why a solution of this kind has not been able to gainacceptance is, moreover, the difficulty of producing such album pages.The strips have to be cut in advance and applied individually to thesubstrate, to which they are then welded.

By contrast, other album pages which are known from DE-U 94 20 289 aretechnically much easier to produce. They comprise a cardboard substratewhich is adhesively bonded to an upper, transparent layer. In this case,however, owing to the different material properties, the influence ofchanging temperatures and atmospheric humidity can easily lead tocreases or to the materials becoming detached.

If the substrate is also chosen to be a film, to which the upper layeris welded, then, despite the fact that a uniform materials system with adurable joining technique is present, there are even more disadvantagesthan those already outlined above. To be able to label the pages, it isnecessary to provide further pockets for extra insertable labellingstrips, whereas cardboard pages can be written on directly. Finally,subsequent disposal also represents a problem.

There is therefore a need for album pages which can be produced as faras possible exclusively from cardboard.

Such album pages are known, for example, in the form of cardboard pageswhich are provided with slots into which the four corners of aphotograph can be inserted. However, album pages of this kind can onlyhave photographs on one side, so that only half the number ofphotographs can be held for the same number of pages as the number whichcan be accommodated in the album as described above, unless thephotographs are arranged offset with respect to one another on the frontand rear sides, although this then results in corners which have beeninserted into the slots being visible on the respective reverse side.Moreover, the photograph becomes an octagonal picture, so that thevisual quality of the photo is reduced when viewing the album.

Album pages in the style of passe-partouts are also known, for examplefrom DE-U 7 147 573, in which a cardboard substrate is adhesively bondedon both sides to in each case a further cardboard page, which isprovided with picture cutouts, in such a way as to produce insertpockets for photographs. This solution has the drawback that firstly thepicture cutouts have to be punched out, which is technically verycomplex. Moreover, large quantities of picture-window cutouts whichcannot be used are produced.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the object of providing an album page of thetype mentioned at the outset which is technically easy to produce and,if desired, allows exclusively cardboard to be used.

According to the invention, the object is achieved by the fact that thestrips are of the same length as the longitudinal edges of thesubstrate.

This measure permits significantly simpler production than that of theknown album pages. It is technically easy to produce the album pages ina continuous process. The substrate is drawn off an endless roll and, inthe most simple case, may be provided only with longitudinally runninglines of glue, to which the strips are applied and adhesively bonded tothe substrate. Suitable adhesives are conventional dispersion adhesivesor else hot-melt adhesives. This is then followed merely by cutting toform single pages. Moreover, the measure allows exclusively cardboard tobe used.

In this case, if a plurality of pairs of strips are provided, theadjacent strips of neighbouring pairs of strips may be combined to forma single strip.

To provide a greater degree of protection against the objects fallingout or for heavier objects, it is additionally possible to provide aform fit, in that at least one strip of in each case one pair of stripsis joined, at least at its end regions, to the substrate via additionaljoins in the region of the mutually facing edges, as is already knownfrom DE-U 1 962 521.

Additional joins may be provided in order to fix each individual object,the distance between which joins are matched to the dimensions of theobject to be hold. The objects are then fixed immovably on both sides insmall pockets. An arrangement of the joins with mirror symmetry ispreferably selected in this case.

The objects to be held, i.e. photographs, telephone cards, etc. aresimply inserted on both sides into the gap between strip and substrate,where they are clamped in place. The clamping force is sufficient tohold light objects immovably.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is preferred for strips to be applied to both sides of the substratessimultaneously, it also being possible to apply three or more strips toeach side in order to form a plurality of adjacent rows for the objectsto be held.

For forming the pockets, the pattern of glue may be applied analogouslyto the intaglio printing process, or optionally also by means offlexographic printing processes, using a printing roller. The separationinto individual album pages after the strips have been applied must thenin each case take place in such a manner that the same pattern ofpockets is always produced.

To form the pockets, glue may also be applied by means of nozzles. Ineach case one nozzle then continuously applies glue for thelongitudinally running lines of glue. The glue for the additional joinsrunning transversely to the direction of movement of the cardboard webis applied by additional nozzles, each of which intermittently applies aspot of glue only at the planned locations. At the locations at whichthe web is later separated into individual pages, two spots of glue areapplied in immediate succession, so that the separation can take placebetween the two spots of glue and then in each case one spot of glue islocated at the end region of one page.

This technique has the advantage that the pattern of glue can easily bevaried for different formats, since all that is necessary is to changethe timing of the additional nozzles and/or the distance between them.

The strips may preferably consist of the same material as the substrate,or else of a different material, a stiff material which may be of anydesired type preferably being used for the substrate. Cardboard or aplastic film is usually suitable for the substrate. If desired, thestrips may consist of a thinner material than that of the substrate, inorder to keep the thickness of the album within reasonable limits. If itis intended to use the same material for the strips as for thesubstrate, the strips may also be cut from one or both edges of thesubstrate web during the production process.

If film is used both as the substrate and for the strips, welding mayalso be used instead of adhesive bonding.

Special sealable films also allow a form of welding of film andcardboard to be implemented. At the locations at which the film is to bejoined to the cardboard, it is heated and joined to the cardboard bymeans of pressure. Suitable materials for this process are polypropyleneor polyethylene and other film materials.

Further suitable joining methods are stapling or press joins of the typewhich are usual in the production of coffee filter papers.

Preferably, a strip may be laid around the outer longitudinal edge ofthe substrate. In this way, both sides of the substrate are providedwith an edge strip simultaneously, and a neat page edge is produced.However, it is equally preferred for the longitudinal edge also to beprovided, in addition, with a folding strip laid around the edge andadhesively bonded or welded on all sides, for example a binding tape,consisting of plastic, as a decorative tape or as edge protection.

On one side of the album page, an edge is left free for bookbindingpurposes. Moreover, a strip for writing may be provided, and mayoptionally also be printed with a pattern of lines or in some other way,this being possible in the continuous printing process. The individualalbum pages are bound into an album, it also being possible to insert,in the usual way, glassine sheets or clear view films between the albumpages.

In order to enable the strips to be gripped from below when insertingphotographs or other objects without putting load on the additionaljoins, it may furthermore be provided for these additional joins to endbefore the outer border of the respective strip. In this case, it isalso possible to differentiate between the joins at the end regions ofthe strips and the other additional joins, by designing the former to belonger than the latter.

In order not to have to grip the strips from below at all when insertingthe objects, it may be provided for the strips to have a broken borderor a web, which is folded down towards the substrate, along theirmutually facing edges. The broken border is made before the strips areapplied to the substrate, by inserting a fold line close to the edges ofthe strips, on their upper side. The border then curves upwards slightlyalong this strip edge, so that photographs or other objects slide underthe strips when being inserted, without the need to manipulate thesestrips at all.

Similarly, a web may be folded down before the strips are applied to thesubstrate. The webs then likewise cause the respective strip edge tocurve up.

In both cases, the album pages also have a visually more pleasantappearance at the strip borders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference toexemplary embodiments. In the appended drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a cardboard substrate of an album page according to theinvention with the joins arranged in the form of lines of glue, beforethe strips are applied, FIG. 2 shows a finished album page, FIG. 3 showsa cardboard web, which has already been glued, before the strips areapplied and the web is separated into individual album pages, FIG. 4shows an exemplary embodiment of an album page which can hold fourphotographs, in a view towards the bottom edge of the album page, FIG. 5shows a plan view of the exemplary embodiment in accordance with FIG. 4,

FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C show an exemplary embodiment of an album page withstrips whose mutually facing edges have a broken border, and

FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C show an exemplary embodiment of an album page withstrips whose mutually facing edges have a folded-down web.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary embodiment of an album page with a foldingstrip joined to the substrate and laid around an outer longitudinaledge.

FIG. 1 shows a cardboard substrate 1 of an album page according to theinvention, which is glued with two lines of glue 3 along or parallel tothe longitudinal edges of the cardboard substrate 1 and, extending fromthese lines of glue, with additional spots of glue 4, which are directedtowards one another.

FIG. 2 shows the finished album page. A strip of paper 5 has beenapplied to each of the lines of glue 3, forming a joining seam 2. Thestrip of paper 5 at the outer longitudinal edge of the cardboardsubstrate 1 may be laid around the edge and adhesively bonded in asimilar manner to the rear side. This simultaneously ensures a neat edgeto the page. The second strip ends flush with the line of glue 3.

The spots of glue 4 are arranged at an interval which is slightlygreater than the width of a photograph 6 to be held, while the distancebetween the strips of paper 5 is kept such that it is slightly shorterthan the length of the photograph 6. This forms two pockets which faceone another and together provide an insertion pocket. The sides of thephotographs 6 are slid into the pockets, where they are then fixedimmovably in all directions.

The length of the spots of glue 4 is shorter than the width of thestrips of paper 5, in order to allow the strips of paper 5 to be grippedfrom below when inserting the photographs 6 and in order not to place aload on the adhesive edges of the spots of glue 4 when doing so. Inorder to fix the strips of paper 5 firmly at the upper and lowertransverse edges of the album page, however, the spots of glue 4 atthose edges are made slightly longer than the other spots of glue in thecentre of the album page.

An edge 7, which in the present case is provided with fold lines, isleft free for bookbinding purposes towards the inner edge of thecardboard substrate 1. Moreover, a strip for writing 8 with preprintedlines is provided. Instead of the lines, it would also be possible toprint on other labels or graphic images.

The area for the photographs 6, which is shown only diagrammatically inFIGS. 1 and 2, may actually be kept much larger, since only very smallpockets are required for fastening at the sides, these pocketsshortening only to an insignificant extent the picture area which can beseen at the sides.

FIG. 3 shows the cardboard substrate 1 in the production phase of thealbum page. The cardboard is drawn off a roll as an endless material inthe direction of the arrow and the lines of glue 3 are applied by aprocess similar to intaglio printing or by means of nozzles. Moreover,in a subsequent or previous process step, the strip for writing 8 isprinted and the fold lines are made at the edge 7. The strips of paper 5to be applied to the lines of glue 3 are likewise present as endlessmaterial. They are guided flush above the lines of glue 3 and are joinedto the cardboard substrate by means of pressure rollers, so as to formjoin seams 2. The strip of paper 5 at the outer edge of the cardboardsubstrate 1 may also, as stated above, be folded around the edge of thecardboard substrate 1 and then adhesively bonded to the latter.

After the strips of paper 5 have been adhesively bonded, it only remainsto separate the web into individual album pages. FIG. 3 diagrammaticallyindicates the subsequent cut lines, which are not visible as such.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show two views of an album page for four photographs 6. Toproduce such an album page, three strips of paper 5 are applied to thecardboard substrate 1, the line of glue 3 for the central strip of paper5 then running centrally.

FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C show a further improvement with regard to handlingand visual aspects. It can be seen in particular from the enlargedrepresentations (FIGS. 6B and 6C) that the borders 9 of the strips ofpaper 5 are broken and as a result point slightly upwards. The break isproduced by making a fold line 10 before the strips of paper 5 areadhesively bonded to the cardboard substrate 1. During insertion, theobjects to be held then slide beneath the strip edge of their ownaccord.

FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C show a variant of this measure which achieves thesame effect. A web 11 is folded down at the mutually facing edges of thestrips of paper 5 before the latter are adhesively bonded to thecardboard substrate 1. The web 11 causes the strips of paper 5 to haverounded borders, which moreover stand slightly raised, so that theobjects to be introduced slide beneath the borders without it beingnecessary to grip the strip edges from below.

FIG. 8 shows an improvement where a folding strip 12 such as a bindingtape is laid around a longitudinal edge of the substrate and joined tothe substrate via the strip 5 to provide a decorative edge or as edgeprotection.

What is claimed is:
 1. An album page for holding at least one planarobject at least on one side, comprising a rectangular substrate havingtwo longitudinal edges, one longitudinal edge of which is a bindingedge; at least one pair of parallel strips, which (1) are of the samelength as the longitudinal edges of the substrate, (2) are joined to thesubstrate parallel to the longitudinal edges thereof and (3), at theirmutually facing edges, have an unjoined region; and a pair oflongitudinal joins which join each of said at least one pair of parallelstrips to the substrate by adhesive bonding; characterized in that saidsubstrate and said at least one pair of parallel strips consist ofcardboard, said at least one pair of parallel strips have, along saidunjoined regions, a border which is bent upwards by means of a fold lineformed on a surface of the strips parallel to said longitudinal edges,and at least one strip of each pair of said at least one pair ofparallel strips is joined, at least at its end regions, to the substratevia additional joins extending from one of the longitudinal joins thatjoins said strip to the substrate toward the border of said at least onestrip and the length of said additional joins at said end regions ofsaid at least one strip is greater than that of an intermediateadditional join that joins an intermediate portion of said at least onestrip to the substrate.
 2. An album page according to claim 1,characterized in that a plurality of said at least one pair of parallelstrips are provided and adjacent strips of said plurality of said atleast one pair of parallel strips are combined to form a single strip.3. An album page according to claim 1, characterized in that a foldingstrip is joined to the substrate and is laid around an outerlongitudinal edge of said two longitudinal edges of the substrate.
 4. Analbum page for holding at least one planar object at least on one side,comprising a rectangular substrate having two longitudinal edges, onelongitudinal edge of which is a binding edge; at least one pair ofparallel strips, which (1) are of the same length as the longitudinaledges of the substrate, (2) are joined to the substrate parallel to thelongitudinal edges thereof and (3), at their mutually facing edges, havean unjoined region; and a pair of longitudinal joins which join each ofsaid at least one pair of parallel strips to the substrate by adhesivebonding; characterized in that said substrate and said at least one pairof parallel strips consist of cardboard, a plurality of said at leastone pair of parallel strips are provided and adjacent strips of saidplurality of said at least one pair of parallel strips are combined toform a single strip, said at least one pair of parallel strips have,along said unjoined regions, a border which is bent upwards by means ofa fold line formed on a surface of the strips parallel to saidlongitudinal edges, and at least one strip of each pair of said at leastone pair of parallel strips is joined, at least at its end regions, tothe substrate via additional joins extending from one of thelongitudinal joins that joins said strip to the substrate toward theborder of said at least one strip and the length of said additionaljoins at said end regions of said at least one strip is greater thanthat of an intermediate additional join that joins an intermediateportion of said at least one strip to the substrate.
 5. An album pageaccording to claim 4, characterized in that a folding strip is joined tothe substrate and is laid around an outer longitudinal edge of said twolongitudinal edges of the substrate.